Strangers in a Strange Land

       Happy belated Thanksgiving America! While you were enjoying your day off from work and stuffing yourself with delicious meal after meal, I was taking an extremely terrible field trip to a once abandoned, now converted school called "Cheese Valley" (don't ask). But no worries because on this continent a couple New Englanders, a few Midwesterners, a Canuck (although her Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated in October), a Korean, and a Southern boy gathered around a crowded apartment...no, this is not the start to a racist joke; just a few ex-pats fighting off homesickness the best they can over food and drinks for a night. You see, my co-workers and I decided to have our own Thanksgiving feast, pot-luck style, albeit a few days late.

       I was able to showcase my Southern hospitality by hosting Thanksgiving at my place and was joined by my neighbor as she offered up her place as well. Friends slowly trickled in as the main courses were set up at my apartment while my neighbor's became the dessert room. I decided to cook field pea jambalaya, chili (which is the second best thing to eat once the temperatures drop into the 30's behind hog's head cheese over grits), and mashed sweet potatoes with walnuts and marshmallows for dessert. Others brought rotisserie chickens, sauteed veggies, deviled eggs, corn and broccoli, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, and chips and salsa (I know some of that sounds commonplace but you wouldn't take things like bread and chips for granted if you moved here and realized they hardly exist). We also had angel food cake, pumpkin pie, fruit, baked apples and wine, Korean beer, and soju.

      All things considered, it was a really great time despite the immense hurdle of finding food that reminded us of home, being crammed on the floor of my tiny apartment, and being told many times that Louisiana seems like a foreign country itself because of my storytelling and accent (I still don't think that they believe nutrias and choupiques exist). Anyways, there's something gratifying about making the best out of adverse situations and it seemed that everyone enjoyed themselves.

      In parting, I don't wish anyone to be separated from their family, friends, or loved ones but I do wish that you'd love and appreciate the relationships that you have before it's potentially too late.